President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved nearly N1 trillion to settle outstanding pension liabilities accumulated over almost two decades, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Omolola Oloworaran, has disclosed.

Oloworaran made the disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja at the maiden National Pension Week, themed “Pension for All: Building a Secure Future Together.”

Speaking to retirees, senior citizens and other stakeholders, the PenCom boss said the administration had prioritised the welfare and dignity of pensioners through measures aimed at improving their financial security.

She explained that the government had introduced two major pension increases under the Pension Boost 1.0 initiative, alongside a N32,000 consequential adjustment across the board, which she described as the highest consequential pension increase at the federal level.

Oloworaran also announced plans to launch two welfare initiatives in November: the PennCare Health Initiative and the Minimum Pension Guarantee.

According to her, PennCare will provide health insurance coverage for low-income retirees, with a pilot programme involving 30,000 retirees already underway.

She expressed concern over the low pensions received by some retirees, noting that some earned as little as N20,000 monthly.

“Some people were earning N20,000 as pension. That is a grave anomaly that should never happen,” she said.

The PenCom director-general stressed that retirement security should extend beyond the regular payment of pension benefits to include access to affordable healthcare.

She argued that Nigerians who had devoted between 30 and 35 years of service to the country should not be left to shoulder their medical expenses without adequate support.

The planned welfare interventions, she said, form part of broader efforts to strengthen pension protection and improve the quality of life of retired workers.